Monthly Archives: September 2013

Well, I’m not really sure how to start this post. Those of you who follow me know that I’ve been out for a few weeks. There’s been a lot going on. As I mentioned in my last few posts, my grandmother passed away and my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. We’ve also had a family vacation (a working vacation, but still a vacation). For those who don’t realize, Zoe’s third birthday was last week. Our homeschool year started. Practice for the Christmas cantata has picked up. I’ve had some more medical stuff going on. The list could go on and on – as, I’m sure, could yours. And some of those things are important, but they don’t really tell you what’s been going on.

To be totally honest, the reason I haven’t posted for a few weeks is that I’ve been hiding. There’s been a lot going on. I’ve been busy. And, wherever I’ve been, I’ve interacted with others, been (semi-) social, and taken care of the things that needed done. I haven’t really known how to deal with some of the things that have been going on, though, so I’ve sort of been waiting. For what, I’m not really sure. I think I’ve been waiting until I knew what I wanted to say. I’ve decided, though, that might not ever happen. So, here I am.

The most important thing about this post, I think, is that it’s as real as I am. It doesn’t really say much, I’m afraid, but It says that life makes us vulnerable, sometimes, and confused. And that’s okay. As long as we can be honest about our imperfections, they can be helpful.

My goal, over the next few days, is to post several short updates, on some of the different things that have been happening. I have a lot to share, but I don’t want to try and cram it all in at once – you wouldn’t want to read it and I don’t know if I would want to write it! So, for now, that’s all. I just wanted to let you know where I’ve been (I’m not really sure!). Lord willing, there will be more soon. Until next time!

Nine years ago today, I put on a white dress and walked down the aisle of the First Baptist Church. At the end, my daddy gave my hand to the love of my life, our emotional pastor officiated the ceremony, and I became a wife. How much has happened in nine years! So much has changed. We have grown so much, in so many ways. And yet, after all this time, we are still learning how to love each other. I am so grateful for the past nine years, and I pray that God grants us many, many more.

Hubby: I love you. Happy Anniversary.

And what a beautiful picture. “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.” Ephesians 5:22-33 (NASB)

In March of 1936, a baby girl was born. She was the third girl in the family, who eventually became big sister to a baby boy. In March 1953, she became a wife. A few years later, she became a mother. Over the next few years, she became a mother three more times, for a total of one son and three daughters. In February of 1976, she became a grandmother. Then, in February of 1983, she became my grandmother.

There’s a lot more to her story than just these few dates. There are all the days in between. There are five other grandchildren, for a total of seven. There are nieces, nephews, cousins. There are daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. There are other grandchildren, through various other avenues. There are a whole slew of great-grandchildren. And that still doesn’t begin to tell her story.

In April of 2002, she became a widow. After 49 years of marriage, she was without a partner. She also buried, along the way, all 3 of her siblings, most of their spouses, her parents and grandparents, nieces, nephews… In November 2010, she stood in the cemetery with her daughter and granddaughter, while we buried my daughter, her great-granddaughter.

In her lifetime, she managed to have a full life. From the time she was born, doctors said she wasn’t going to make it. God had other plans, though. Seventy-seven years’ worth. An official member of MENSA (the American society of geniuses), a born traveler, and an avid reader, there were few places that her mind, at least, didn’t visit. During the last few years, though, her body wasn’t up for going much of anywhere.

Sunday night, September 1, 2013, she took her last trip. The last time I saw her, she promised to tell everyone that I said hi. When I asked her to give my Zoe-girl a kiss for me, she responded that she was planning to give her a lot more loving than that. She’d been planning her trip for a while, and that was one of the things she’s been most looking forward to. Me, too.